UPDATE: Five adults charged with child abuse after police rescue 11 children from makeshift compund

Update: Five adults are charged with child abuse after police raided a makeshift compound in northern New Mexico. They are Siraj Wahaj (39), Lucaus Morten, Jany Leveille (35), Hujrah Wahhaj (38) and Subhannah Wahhaj (35).

The multi-state, months-long search for a 3-year-old boy from Georgia led to a raid of a makeshift compound in northern New Mexico, resulting in the rescue of 11 children.

The boy, Abdul-Ghani Wahaj, went missing in late November 2017, and police believe he was abducted by his father, 39-year-old Siraj Wahaj.

The Taos County Sheriff’s Office received a tip that the boy’s father and another man named Lucas Morten were living at the compound.

Sheriff’s Officers raided the compound, finding the two men, along with the 11 children and three women, believed to be the children’s mothers.

Authorities described the conditions of the compound as being the worst they had ever seen. The compound had no running water, no electricity, little food and the children were clothed in rags.

“These children, the best way to describe it, they literally looked like starving refugees,” Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said.

Sadly, the 3-year-old boy who was the reason for the raid is still missing. Police say they are still focusing on finding him.

The 11 children rescued from the compound are now in the custody of state child-welfare services.